Keepers: TrafficPRM’s round-up of top blog posts

August 27th, 2010 by Brian Posnanski

Our latest list of keepers has us contemplating some of the big questions floating around the PR and online marketing industry. These writers leave us thinking about the strengths that traditional PR can bring to a digitized public sphere, the difference between influence and popularity, and how to make sense of the torrent of social media content.

1. The Future of Public Relations and Social Media: Mashable’s in-depth piece, written by Erica Swallow, explores the ways in which PR is changing in an increasingly digital age. It takes a close look at how press releases in particular are transforming as well as specific ways in which social-media platforms are still experiencing some growing pains. But with all the industry change, at least one thing remains a constant—the “human factor.”

2.  Influence is Bliss: The Gender Divide of Influence on Twitter: What’s most interesting about this lengthy post by Brian Solis is not so much the question of whether men or women have more influence on which social media networks, although the numbers and trends are certainly notable. The really fascinating thing that Solis describes is the way in which such influence is measured and how it is distinct from the notion of popularity.

3. Data on Demand is an Opportunity: New York Times’ “Bits” blogger Jenna Wortham discusses important ways in which the real-time Web may expand from simply connecting people socially. One question is whether it’s possible to carve out useful, timely knowledge from the deluge of tweets, Facebook updates and other fast-moving information within trust-based networks. As Wortham explains, “It’s great to read a tweet or see a status update that one of your tech-savvy friends loves his or her new digital camera. But it’d be even more handy to have that information when you’re wandering around in Best Buy looking at cameras or browsing Amazon online. So how does one go about building such a service?” The answer hasn’t appeared yet, but lots of folks are pondering the question.

Tags: Media Trends, social media